Semantic-Based Destination Suggestion in Intelligent Tourism Information Systems

Abstract. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in mining trajectories of moving objects. Advances in this data mining task are likely to support the development of new applications such as mobility prediction and service pre-fetching. Approaches reported in the literature consider only spatio-temporal information provided by collected trajectories. However, some applications demand additional sources of information to make correct predictions. In this work, we consider the case of an on-line tourist support service which aims at suggesting places to visit in the nearby. We assume tourist interests depend both on her/his geographical position and on the “semantic ” information extracted from geo-referenced documents associated to the visited sites. Therefore, the suggestion is based on both spatio-temporal data as well as on textual data. To deal with tourist’s interest drift we apply a time-slice density estimation method. Experimental results are reported for two scenarios.

Unveiling patterns of international communities in a global city using mobile phone data

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Contribution of seagrass blue carbon toward carbon neutral policies in a touristic and environmentally-friendly island

Estimates of organic carbon (Corg) storage by seagrass meadows which consider inter-habitat variability are essential to understand their potential to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) and derive robust global and regional estimates of blue carbon storage. In this study, we provide baseline estimates of seagrass extent, and soil Corg stocks and accumulation rates from different seagrass habitats at Rottnest Island (in Amphibolis spp., Posidonia spp., Halophila ovalis, and mixed Posidonia/Amphibolis spp. meadows). The Corg stocks in 0.5 m thick seagrass soil deposits, derived from 24 cores, were 5.1 ± 0.7 kg Corg m–2 (mean ± SE, ranging from 0.05 to 12.9 kg Corg m–2), accumulating at 23.2 ± 3.2 g Corg m–2 year–1 (ranging from 0.22 to 58.9 g Corg m–2 year–1) over the last decades. There were significant differences in Corg content (%) and stocks (mg Corg cm–3), stable carbon isotope composition of the soil organic matter (δ13C), and soil grain size among the seagrass meadows studied, highlighting that biotic and abiotic factors influence seagrass soil Corg storage. Mixed meadows of Posidonia/Amphibolis spp. and monospecific meadows of Posidonia spp. and Amphibolis spp. had the highest Corg stocks (ranging from 6.2 to 6.4 kg Corg m–2), while Halophila spp. meadows had the lowest Corg stocks (1.2 ± 0.6 kg Corg m–2). We estimated a total soil Corg stock of 48.1 ± 8.5 Gg Corg beneath the 755 ha of Rottnest Island’s seagrasses, and a Corg sequestration capacity of 0.81 ± 0.06 Gg Corg year–1, which is equivalent to the sequestration of ∼22% of the island’s current annual CO2 emissions. Our results contribute to the existing global dataset on seagrass soil Corg storage and show a significant potential of seagrass to sequester CO2, which are particularly relevant in the context of achieving carbon neutrality through conservation actions in environmentally-marketed, tourist destinations such as Rottnest Island

L’impatto della pandemia di Covid-19 sul comportamento dei consumatori di vino e degli enoturisti: i cambiamenti, i loro driver e nuove prospettive

Il vino è diventato uno dei pilastri del mercato agroalimentare internazionale, con un crescente bacino di consumatori in tutto il mondo. In questo contesto, l'Italia è una delle forze trainanti del settore vitivinicolo a livello mondiale per produzione, consumo ed in termini commerciali accanto ad attori storici come Francia o Spagna e ad attori più recenti, appartenenti al cosiddetto Nuovo Mondo, come gli USA. Parallelamente, il fenomeno dell'enoturismo si è notevolmente espanso portando ad una grande differenziazione della domanda e dell'offerta, nonché ad una crescente pressione competitiva per gli attori che intendono operare nel business. Poiché il crescente corpo della letteratura sull'enoturismo risale per lo più ai primi anni 2000 e si concentra sulle cosiddette regioni vinicole del Nuovo Mondo, c'è necessità di informazioni aggiornate sulle ultime evoluzioni del settore. Inoltre, la crisi generata dal Covid-19 ha rivoluzionato la nostra quotidianità, alterando fortemente le dinamiche dei mercati e delle società mondiali. Questa tesi di dottorato mira ad esplorare se e come l'attuale pandemia ha modificato il comportamento dei consumatori di vino e degli enoturisti. In particolare, il capitolo 1 analizza l'effetto del primo lockdown sui consumi di vino degli italiani combinando tecniche descrittive e regressione logistica binaria. I capitoli 2 e 3, invece, applicano un modello ad equazioni strutturali (SEM) per esplorare l’impatto della pandemia sulle intenzioni a viaggiare degli enoturisti. Nello specifico, il capitolo 2 si concentra sugli enoturisti italiani e francesi includendo gli effetti sia del coinvolgimento personale con il vino, che del coinvolgimento situazionale legato ai periodi di confinamento, della solidarietà verso i produttori nazionali, della paura del contagio e dei vincoli finanziari causati dalla pandemia. Il capitolo 3 propone uno studio simile su un panel di enoturisti statunitensi, ma include nuove variabili: l'attitudine al rischio ed i vincoli di tempo al viaggio legati al Covid. La modellazione simultanea di fattori positivi e limitanti rispetto al comportamento dei consumatori mira a ridurre le potenziali distorsioni che possono sorgere quando, come in studi esistenti, viene considerato soltanto uno dei due aspetti. Inoltre, questo progetto investiga i recenti sviluppi del turismo del vino analizzando il fenomeno emergente delle esperienze enoturistiche online. In particolare, il capitolo 4 esplora i driver dell'interesse a partecipare all'enoturismo online, considerando fattori legati a Covid (sia positivi che negativi) ed altri elementi chiave riportati dalla letteratura. Infine, il capitolo 5 presenta i risultati preliminari di un innovativo esperimento di scelta svolto su un panel di enoturisti italiani ed incentrato sulle degustazioni di vino online, la forma prevalente di enoturismo a distanza adottata dagli operatori del settore.Wine has become one of the pillars of the international agri-food market, to the point that it currently attracts billions of consumers worldwide every year. In the wine scenario, Italy is a leading force in wine production, consumption, and trade next to historical players like France or Spain and more recent New World actors like the USA. In parallel, the wine tourism phenomenon has grown dramatically leading to a great offer and supply differentiation, and to increasing competitive pressure for actors willing to operate in the business. Since the growing body of wine tourism literature mostly dates back to the early 2000s and focuses on so-called New World wine regions, there is a need for updated information on the latest sector evolutions. However, the Covid-19 outbreak brought unmatched, profound changes to our known normality, jeopardising international trade, tourism, and all countries’ economies and societies. With this in mind, this doctoral thesis aims at exploring the effects of the current pandemic on wine consumers and wine tourists behaviour. Notably, chapter 1 analyses the effect of the lockdown on Italians’ wine consumption combining descriptive techniques with binary logistic regression. Chapters 2 and 3, instead, apply structural equation modelling (SEM) to explore if and how the pandemic has affected wine tourism intentions. Precisely, chapter 2 focuses on Italian and French wine tourists travel intentions and considers the effects of personal involvement with wine, situational involvement with wine connected to the times of home confinement, solidarity, Covid phobia and financial constraints caused by the pandemic. Chapter 3 proposes a similar study on USA wine regions visitors but embodying also risk attitude and Covid-related time constraints to travelling. The simultaneous modelling of positive factors and constraints aims to reduce potential distortions that can arise when, as past studies have done, only positive or negative drivers of consumers behaviour are considered. Pursuant to the need of exploring recent wine tourism developments, the present work further analyses the emerging phenomenon of online wine tourism experiences. Specifically, chapter 4 explores the antecedents of interest in partaking in online wine tourism, embodying Covid-related factors (both positive and negative) jointly with other key drivers reported by the literature. Finally, Chapter 5 presents the preliminary findings of a pioneering choice experiment on a panel of Italian wine tourists involving online wine tastings, which are the prevalent form of remote wine tourism adopted by the sector’s practitioners

L’impatto della pandemia di Covid-19 sul comportamento dei consumatori di vino e degli enoturisti: i cambiamenti, i loro driver e nuove prospettive

Il vino è diventato uno dei pilastri del mercato agroalimentare internazionale, con un crescente bacino di consumatori in tutto il mondo. In questo contesto, l'Italia è una delle forze trainanti del settore vitivinicolo a livello mondiale per produzione, consumo ed in termini commerciali accanto ad attori storici come Francia o Spagna e ad attori più recenti, appartenenti al cosiddetto Nuovo Mondo, come gli USA. Parallelamente, il fenomeno dell'enoturismo si è notevolmente espanso portando ad una grande differenziazione della domanda e dell'offerta, nonché ad una crescente pressione competitiva per gli attori che intendono operare nel business. Poiché il crescente corpo della letteratura sull'enoturismo risale per lo più ai primi anni 2000 e si concentra sulle cosiddette regioni vinicole del Nuovo Mondo, c'è necessità di informazioni aggiornate sulle ultime evoluzioni del settore. Inoltre, la crisi generata dal Covid-19 ha rivoluzionato la nostra quotidianità, alterando fortemente le dinamiche dei mercati e delle società mondiali. Questa tesi di dottorato mira ad esplorare se e come l'attuale pandemia ha modificato il comportamento dei consumatori di vino e degli enoturisti. In particolare, il capitolo 1 analizza l'effetto del primo lockdown sui consumi di vino degli italiani combinando tecniche descrittive e regressione logistica binaria. I capitoli 2 e 3, invece, applicano un modello ad equazioni strutturali (SEM) per esplorare l’impatto della pandemia sulle intenzioni a viaggiare degli enoturisti. Nello specifico, il capitolo 2 si concentra sugli enoturisti italiani e francesi includendo gli effetti sia del coinvolgimento personale con il vino, che del coinvolgimento situazionale legato ai periodi di confinamento, della solidarietà verso i produttori nazionali, della paura del contagio e dei vincoli finanziari causati dalla pandemia. Il capitolo 3 propone uno studio simile su un panel di enoturisti statunitensi, ma include nuove variabili: l'attitudine al rischio ed i vincoli di tempo al viaggio legati al Covid. La modellazione simultanea di fattori positivi e limitanti rispetto al comportamento dei consumatori mira a ridurre le potenziali distorsioni che possono sorgere quando, come in studi esistenti, viene considerato soltanto uno dei due aspetti. Inoltre, questo progetto investiga i recenti sviluppi del turismo del vino analizzando il fenomeno emergente delle esperienze enoturistiche online. In particolare, il capitolo 4 esplora i driver dell'interesse a partecipare all'enoturismo online, considerando fattori legati a Covid (sia positivi che negativi) ed altri elementi chiave riportati dalla letteratura. Infine, il capitolo 5 presenta i risultati preliminari di un innovativo esperimento di scelta svolto su un panel di enoturisti italiani ed incentrato sulle degustazioni di vino online, la forma prevalente di enoturismo a distanza adottata dagli operatori del settore.Wine has become one of the pillars of the international agri-food market, to the point that it currently attracts billions of consumers worldwide every year. In the wine scenario, Italy is a leading force in wine production, consumption, and trade next to historical players like France or Spain and more recent New World actors like the USA. In parallel, the wine tourism phenomenon has grown dramatically leading to a great offer and supply differentiation, and to increasing competitive pressure for actors willing to operate in the business. Since the growing body of wine tourism literature mostly dates back to the early 2000s and focuses on so-called New World wine regions, there is a need for updated information on the latest sector evolutions. However, the Covid-19 outbreak brought unmatched, profound changes to our known normality, jeopardising international trade, tourism, and all countries’ economies and societies. With this in mind, this doctoral thesis aims at exploring the effects of the current pandemic on wine consumers and wine tourists behaviour. Notably, chapter 1 analyses the effect of the lockdown on Italians’ wine consumption combining descriptive techniques with binary logistic regression. Chapters 2 and 3, instead, apply structural equation modelling (SEM) to explore if and how the pandemic has affected wine tourism intentions. Precisely, chapter 2 focuses on Italian and French wine tourists travel intentions and considers the effects of personal involvement with wine, situational involvement with wine connected to the times of home confinement, solidarity, Covid phobia and financial constraints caused by the pandemic. Chapter 3 proposes a similar study on USA wine regions visitors but embodying also risk attitude and Covid-related time constraints to travelling. The simultaneous modelling of positive factors and constraints aims to reduce potential distortions that can arise when, as past studies have done, only positive or negative drivers of consumers behaviour are considered. Pursuant to the need of exploring recent wine tourism developments, the present work further analyses the emerging phenomenon of online wine tourism experiences. Specifically, chapter 4 explores the antecedents of interest in partaking in online wine tourism, embodying Covid-related factors (both positive and negative) jointly with other key drivers reported by the literature. Finally, Chapter 5 presents the preliminary findings of a pioneering choice experiment on a panel of Italian wine tourists involving online wine tastings, which are the prevalent form of remote wine tourism adopted by the sector’s practitioners

A Slice of Tourism: The Nature, Dimensions and Geographies of International Golf Tourism in New Zealand

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world and for New Zealand it is the most important industry along with dairy. Of the 2.5 million tourists who visit New Zealand each year, it is estimated that around 65,000 (3%) of visitors will play at least one game of golf while in the country. New Zealand’s profile as a golfing destination has increased in recent years and now boasts a number of the worlds top ranked courses. This, along with the low cost of playing golf in New Zealand has made it an attractive golfing destination. This thesis aims to gain a greater insight into the nature and dimensions of the golf tourism industry in New Zealand and of those who visit. This research was conducted through a range of interviews with 19 stakeholders in the golf tourism industry, as well as a golfer’s questionnaire to which 44 international visitors responded. This research has found that international golf tourism plays an important role for many golf courses throughout New Zealand and the number of visitors is on the rise. These visitors tend to be wealthier and spend more money than the average tourist during their stay and so the benefits of increasing this market go beyond what is spent on the golf course alone. However, New Zealand must first overcome a number of barriers if international golf tourism is to reach its full potential. The key barriers to growth are New Zealand’s geographic isolation, the large distances between New Zealand’s top courses, competition from other golfing destinations and a lack of marketing to increase the awareness of New Zealand as a golfing destination

Development of tour packages through spatio-temporal modelling of tourist movements

An ideal tour package should consist of itinerary elements such as the sequence of attractions with the scheduled arrival times and visiting durations at each attraction according to tourists’ preferences and characteristics. This research presents the methodology of designing tour packages by incorporating tourists’ spatio-temporal movements and tourist characteristics within scheduling processes. Therefore, it can provide tourists with personalised itineraries and support other stakeholders in managing the resources and facilities within attractions

An Interactive Approach for Exploration of Flows Through Direction-Based Filtering

This paper is concerned with the representation and exploration of flows, defined as spatial interactions between geographic locations. Flows are challenging to display in a comprehensible manner due to the nature of the data, which are characterized by many crossings and overlaps leading to clutter. A number of different strategies have been suggested for addressing this problem, which commonly involve reducing the search space, aggregating the data or simplifying the representations often at the cost of information loss or distortion of spatial context. We propose an interactive approach for exploring large and highly connected networks of flows without distorting the geographical space and without losing the context overview in the process. The approach is based on a flow-specific interaction technique for filtering the data by direction, that enables an analyst to successively identify underlying spatial arrangement patterns. We illustrate our approach through exploring flows of tourists and locals in the Greater London area

Network partitioning on time-dependent origin-destination electronic trace data

In this study, we identify spatial regions based on an empirical data set consisting of time-dependent origin-destination (OD) pairs. These OD pairs consist of electronic traces collected from smartphone data by Google in the Amsterdam metropolitan region and is aggregated by the volume of trips per hour at neighbourhood level. By means of community detection, we examine the structure of this empirical data set in terms of connectedness. We show that we can distinguish spatially connected regions when we use a performance metric called modularity and the trip directionality is incorporated. From this, we proceed to analyse variations in the partitions that arise due to the non-optimal greedy optimisation method. We use a method known as ensemble learning to combine these variations by means of the overlap in community partitions. Ultimately, the combined partition leads to a more consistent result when evaluated again, compared to the individual partitions. Analysis of the partitions gives insights with respect to connectivity and spatial travel patterns, thereby supporting policy makers in their decisions for future infra structural adjustments